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Taka
is a boss in the Contra series. It is a giant tortoise-like alien monster who appears in various installments, either as a boss or a miniboss. Appearances ''Contra III: The Alien Wars First appearance of this alien enemy in the series. It is encountered at the end of the first stage, Occupied City Street. The heroes arrive to a dead end, with a high wall blocking further progress. After a brief moment of uncomfortable silence, the earth suddenly starts to tremble and the sound of approaching stomps can be heard every time louder and louder. The wall suddenly breaks apart and from the opening emerges a humongous monstrosity: '''Slave Beast Taka'. Taka is an alien creature that somewhat resembles a gigantic tortoise with frontal arms that strangely resemble human brains. It has an equally enormous hive affixed to its back, from which it releases swarms of flying alien insectoids. The hive's opening can be destroyed, preventing any more aliens to come out. It can also vomit myriads of disgusting maggot-like creatures that will start crawling on the ground. Another ability consists in extending its neck a great length in order to bite distant preys with its powerful jaws. If this wasn't enough, it can also unleash a powerful energy blast from its mouth. It can only be harmed by damaging the big core-like heart exposed underneath, although this can also shoot back projectiles at great speed. ''Contra: Legacy of War In ''Legacy of War, Taka is now fought from a top-view perspective. It has variations of its previous attacks: *Breathes a large stream of flame. *Releases bug-like aliens. *Elongates its neck to bite the player at a distance. ''Contra: Shattered Soldier '''Slave Beast Taka' initially behaves and attacks the same way it did in Contra III, although this time its heart is absent and is instead replaced by another hive. The new weak point is its head. After sustaining enough damage, it will turn around and reveal a giant humanoid face, commencing the second phase of the boss fight. Its two attacks are either vomiting (sometimes having dead bodies to come out) or sniffling, where bugs fly out. ''Contra: Return The battle with Taka takes place in what looks to be a large spacecraft. The monster makes its entrance by smashing down an automatic door and breathing flames at the player. Its eyes burn with fire. In this game, the alien beast can be damaged by firing at any part of its body. Taka's attacks are the same as in ''Contra III, although with some new tweaks: *Taka vomits alien insects at the player. These remain pacing back and forth on the ground, not going anywhere so the player will have to take out these crawlers. *Taka breathes a flame stream toward the player's current position. The flame lasts quite a bit and inflicts additional damage, so it is advised to move away as quickly as possible. *Taka takes a few steps forward and stretches its neck to bite the player. During this attack, Taka's full body can be briefly seen. *Taka releases swarms of flying alien insects out of its back. Unlike Contra III, it does not have a hive to be shot down to prevent more bugs from coming out, so the player will have to keep on negotiating with any flying insects released by Taka. These bugs spew acid at the player and take a few shots to be taken down. If not taken out quickly, they can cause a lot of problems as Taka will continue attacking regardless they are present or not. *Taka takes a step backward before shooting a long and deadly laser beam from its heart/core. ''Contra: Rogue Corps :"''A fiend shaped like a turtle. As it gets bigger, it outgrows its shell and needs to seek out a replacement like a hermit crab. When fully matured, it is big enough to take up residence inside of the ruins of abandoned aircraft carriers. Its vital organs, such as brain and heart, are dispersed in various locations on its body, so it can survive even after having its skull broken open or taking massive damage." - Description from the Contra: Rogue Corps official website This reincarnation of Taka hides its body underneath the ruins of an abandoned aircraft carrier somewhere within the Damned City, so only its unusually long neck tipped with an huge head is exposed. It can be shot at the large brain-like organ attached to its throat, though Taka uses it to charge beams from its mouth. Gallery Taka Alien Wars.png|''Contra III: The Alien Wars'' Taka Alien Wars GB.png|''Contra: The Alien Wars'' Taka Legacy of War.png|''Contra: Legacy of War'' Taka Shattered Soldier.png|''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' (front) Taka Contra Shattered Soldier Rear Face.png|''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' (rear) Taka Contra Return Full Body.png|''Contra: Return'' water 2017040519351522527.jpg|Promotional artwork for Contra: Return Taka Contra Rogue Corps.png|''Contra: Rogue Corps'' (first form) Taka Contra Rogue Corps Split Head.png|''Contra: Rogue Corps'' (second form) Trivia *The English instruction booklet for Contra III: The Alien Wars names this enemy as "Beast Kimkoh". However, in the Contra universe, Kimkoh is a totally different creature, most known for being the final boss in Super C for the NES. Whether this name change was an error or a liberty taken by the localization team is unknown. *The European instruction booklet for Super Probotector: Alien Rebels names this enemy as "Vicious Slave Hawks" (the kana タカ Taka can be transcribed into 鷹 "Hawk" in kanji). However, in the English instruction booklet, the same name is given to another enemy otherwise known as the Metal Alien. Category:Aliens Category:Contra Advance bosses Category:Legacy of War bosses Category:Return bosses Category:Rogue Corps bosses Category:Shattered Soldier bosses Category:The Alien Wars bosses Category:The Alien Wars (GB) bosses